GDP is Not Enough

How can we justify decisions on the grounds that they will make the economy grow? The measure used, GDP (Gross Domestic Product), is not a measure of progress. It only measures money.

GDP does not distinguish between money spent on useful goods and services and money spent cleaning up after our failures. It gives no value to the unpaid work we do for our families and communities and it is blind to resource depletion and pollution.

GDP can be dangerously misleading. Encouraging the production of poisonous chemicals makes the economy grow in two ways. First there is the money made selling the chemicals and then the expenses of medical attention for people who are poisoned. Crime causes even more growth. If people can't earn enough money to get by, they will sometimes steal to meet their needs. This causes the economy to grow when the stolen goods are replaced, burglar alarms purchased, more police hired and prisons packed. In the US, their 'War on Drugs' policy has made the construction of prisons one of the fastest growing sectors of their economy. Should we be following policies which encourage poverty and the spread of poisons?

In the last Parliament, Joe Jordan, the MP for Leeds-Grenville, introduced a private member's bill which would correct this.

The "Canada Well-Being Measurement Act" (CWBMA) aims to establish measures of progress where money spent dealing with problems is tallied separately from that spent on useful goods and services. It would recognize unpaid work for the benefits it provides and it would keep natural resource accounts and pollution inventories so that we can monitor our ecological health.

Mr. Jordan talked about this in the House of Commons on several occasions and he was named by Finance Minister Martin as the inspiration behind a similar measure introduced in the February Budget. There is much to be done before this improvement to how we measure well-being is a working reality, but that ground can be covered more quickly if you are interested.

More details are available at: http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/index3.html
or by contacting Mike Nickerson in Merrickville.

Questions and comments are welcome.

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Last Update: May 11, 2002
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